Senate President Ahmad Lawan has expressed hope that President Muhammadu will sign the 2022 appropriation bill next week.
Lawan made this known in an interview with State House correspondents after meeting with the President at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Friday.
The Senate and the House of Representatives had earlier in the week passed the 2022 budget and increased the estimate to N17.13 trillion.
Speaking with reporters, Lawan said the National Assembly is optimistic that the president will sign the bill into law next week.
The Senate President disclosed that the National Assembly has done well in passing the appropriation bill before the Christmas break.
He said: “We’re very optimistic. In fact, we’re very sure that Mr President will sign the bill into an act of the national assembly next week by the grace of God.
“And this is the way we should always work together. This is our third appropriation bill to be passed before we go on Christmas break.
“It has shown how important the passage and the assent to the budget before the end of the year has been. You will recall that we were in two or three different recessions. But public expenditure, which normally drives our economy as a developing economy, has always brought that advantage, made the availability of funds into the economy, and we can come out of the recess periods.”
Lawan stated that he was invited alongside the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, by the president to thank them for passing the budget before the end of the year.
“So, I want to thank Mr President for thanking the national assembly, because this is essentially the reason he invited the speaker and me to say that ‘national assembly, thank you very much for working with us, for making this budget 2022 pass in good time as you did for 2020 and 2021,” he added.
